Meeting of the Parliament 25 October 2023
Yes—of course that is important. We have to talk about what is happening in our schools as well as in the further and higher education system and in the wider skills landscape.
I absolutely believe in parity of esteem. As someone who left school and went to college; went into work and did part-time college study while I was at work; and then left my job to go to university, got my degree and went back into the workplace, I know that there is no wrong path, as we say in the #NoWrongPath campaign to persuade young people that there is parity of esteem. That has to be an outcome of the changing landscape and the policies in this country as we move forward, with regard to people’s impressions of what they can get out of the skills system and the education system in Scotland.
I will pick up quickly on a couple of issues that members mentioned. Pam Gosal and Maggie Chapman mentioned the debate around gender issues in relation to apprenticeships in particular. I point out that the Scottish apprenticeship advisory board created the gender commission to develop recommendations that offer real practical solutions to help to address the gender imbalance across all our apprenticeships. The Government was given recommendations on that important issue, which are now being taken forward and considered.
Brian Whittle and other members said that we are not training people for the net zero industries of the future. However, a lot is happening in our colleges and universities. Earlier this year, Scottish Renewables found that almost 22,000 students in Scotland are taking courses relating to renewable energy—that number is up by 70 per cent since 2019.